Sunday 6 March 2016 15:35, UK
British netball is entering an exciting 'new era', but southern hemisphere sides are still leading the way, says England selector Maggie Jackson.
The Vitality Netball Superleague has gone from strength-to-strength in recent years and has attracted talented internationals such as New Zealand's Liana Leota and South African Lenize Potgieter.
Homegrown players have also benefited from the higher standard of competition and England took the bronze medal at last summer's World Cup, with Australia edging out New Zealand in the final.
But England's recent 3-0 Tri-Series defeat to Australia gave a stark reminder that Tracey Neville's team still need to make up ground on the top sides in the sport.
And Maggie Jackson, an England selector and performance director at Hertfordshire Mavericks, admits that players need more financial support to continue the growth of club netball.
"I think this is like the beginning of a whole new era this season," Jackson told Sky Sports. "The transfers, the recruiting and so on has felt - I think in the 11 years I've been involved - like it's moved up another notch in the standard of the Superleague. Therefore to have this kind of closeness is fantastic for lots of reasons."
Reflecting on the differences between the Superleague and the ANZ championship, Jackson said: "For me, probably because of my coaching background, we have to ensure that franchises are becoming professional, as in literally professional, so we can train players during the day.
"Clearly they will have to do some work, like they do out there, but we need to get more and more players who are able to get paid to train and to compete.
"Your average Superleague player, which makes up to 75 per cent of the squad, are all still working and coming in during the evening.
"In order to have a really effective training programme they need to rest and recover as well."
But Jackson has taken positives from the three matches against the world champions in January.
She singled out Ama Agbeze as a consistent performer and believes England have a promising crop of young talent.
"It was always going to be hard with those players who were unavailable or injured," said Jackson. "It was the opportunity for people to step up. What was pleasing was to see Ama Agbeze really stepping up and playing well continuously. All the years I've known Ama, she's been in and out of the squad, but she got some court time and really stuck to the task. I thought she and Eboni Beckford-Chambers really worked well together.
"Natalie Haythornthwaite who is having an impact in the Superleague - people like her have got the potential to really do well.
"For me, Natalie, Ama, Sara Bayman in the middle and of course Helen Housby, another one who a bit like Ama got the opportunity to play a lot more. That was pleasing to see."
